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R-14 Shrike
A human military drone. Vehicle Classification Networked Unmanned Interdiction Platform History With its military gutted and decidedly exhausted from the stresses of the Reaper War, Systems Alliance military strategists found themselves relying even more in the utilization and development of drone technology and doctrine. While the Alliance Marine Corps was already familiar with drones on the battlefield, the Navy now began to see benefits of using unmanned craft in place of human pilots. Pitched stellar battles had killed countless servicemen, but the Alliance's pilot corps had counted themselves among the most affected, finding themselves constant victims of Reaper point defense, Oculi interceptors or surface defense platforms. Expenses of training new pilots were costly, and the corps were short on experienced survivors. Drones offered a simple and effective short term remedy to this situation; proving a crucial factor in enabling the Networked Area Virtual Intelligence Interceptor (NAVII) program. This was an ambitious project spearheaded by a few key members of the Alliance navy, utilizing VIs to stand-in for an otherwise absent fighter pilot. The program was a success, and it encouraged Alliance officials to seek more esoteric applications. One such application came out of an unlikely place - The High Republic of Orozvhad, an otherwise unremarkable if successful Terminus Systems government among the many, bar its unlikely and fairly effective military alliance with the Turian Hierarchy over the course of the Reaper War. With Hierarchy and Alliance military cooperation growing, awareness of the High Republic and its prowess spread. When the Orozvhad unveiled their then in-progress UWP-07 Channel Drone, a networked swarm of drones coordinated by a single operator, the Alliance caught notice. The novelty of the concept impressed and enthused Alliance military officials who were convinced by the Orozvhadi weapon, surprised at the apparent similarities to the then in-development drone weapon. Partnering with Aldrin Labs, who in turn consulted Hierarchy-Orozvhadi military liaisons, the Alliance set to work in developing their own variant of the concept. Co-opting much of the existing infrastructure of the NAVII program, Aldrin Labs quickly produced and iterated on what would become the R-14 Shrike. Description At just a meter and a half in length, the Shrike has an unassuming if not imposing appearance, easily compared to a bird feather or a blade. Operators affectionately call them 'knives', though the skeptical would compare them to tuning forks. Shrikes are capable of being deployed in a diverse array of methods, though generally they're loaded into Rapid Deployment Pods that installed onto the hardpoints of the vehicle carrying them into battle. Much like missiles, the pods fire the Shrikes out nearly at once, with only minute delay between individual units. While commonly attached to a vehicle, RDPs can be engaged remotely and even a detached pod can launch its' passengers if required. In lack of a deployment pod, Shrikes can be magnetized to a hosting vessel in an arrangement operators call 'the head-dress', evoking the Shrike's feather-like appearance. Once away (their group informally referred to as a 'flock'), the Shrike's virtual intelligence activates, seeking out its' partners via laser beam transmission or wireless command network and syncing to each other. Once the Shrikes have synced, they communicate the situation to each other, exchanging combat data and deciding on a relative course of action in lack of operator commands. The control interface and relationship largely resembles that of a Channel's. The operator communicates to its' flock over an encrypted wireless channel or a tight-beam transmission, with redundancies over the network that the Shrikes share meant to ensure every single partner is working off the same instruction base. In five seconds intervals, the Shrikes pass data against each other, comparing timestamps and sources from their instruction set. All of this is done to ensure consistency inside the network and total coordination in actions taken by the drones. While somewhat over-complicated in comparison to the Channel, the Alliance aimed to reduce mental strain and concentration necessary to operate the drones under a high-stress environment. To reduce an operator's workload, micromanagement of details are delegated to the drone VIs. The operator issues a target, and the drones choose their firing solutions, how to surround an enemy, how to maneuver around them as to confuse, and in case of damages maneuvering away to mitigate further harm. Known downsides of the Shrike's design are an unwieldy command interface for individual drones, and tendency to exhaust on-board fuel fast with the constant optimization of the drone flock's shape and movement. Armament possibilities for the drone feature a 4mm tungsten mass accelerator rail (standard loadout), GARDIAN laser (not recommended, drone operation time reduced to 3 minutes from 12), a Thanix micro-cannon, small-capacity missile pods, semi-automatic grenade launcher, and even combat micro-fabricators like Incinerate and Cryo. Aside from that, there’s been some tests in equipping the Shrike with a tactical cloaking system, though its’ rather extreme effect on the Shrike’s battery life remains a foremost concern. The weapon is currently undergoing a series of trials on and around the planet of Kruljaven. Alliance officials hope to push the Shrike into circulation in relatively short order, should those trials end favourably. Notes While commonly deployed on gunships, AFVs, dropships, and even frigates, they're rarely deployed on Tridents or similar fighters. Smug operators might blame it on stubborn pilots, but while part of that may be true, more of it lays in the Shrike's difficulty in keeping up with fighter or interceptor flight patterns or velocities. Category:Weaponry Category:Ships and Vehicles Category:Systems Alliance